A dissolved company owes me money: what can I do?

The short answer

A dissolved company cannot pay you or be sued, because it has ceased to exist as a legal person. Your options are to bring it back to life by restoration, to look for someone else who is liable, or to write the debt off.

Which option makes sense depends on three things: how the company was dissolved, whether it has anything worth recovering, and whether anyone else, such as a guarantor or a director who acted wrongly, can be pursued.

Key facts:

• On dissolution, all property and rights of the company pass to the Crown as bona vacantia (Companies Act 2006, s.1012).
• A creditor at the time of dissolution can apply to court to restore the company (s.1029), generally within 6 years of dissolution, with no time limit for personal injury claims (s.1030).
• Administrative restoration is only for a former director or member, within 6 years, and not where the directors applied for voluntary strike-off (GOV.UK).
• A restored company is treated as if it had not been struck off and dissolved (GOV.UK).
• On 1 October 2026, 423,006 companies were under a proposal to strike off, the stage before dissolution (UK Company Data, strike-off study).

Step 1: find out how the company was dissolved

The filing history tells you how the company ended, and that decides your options. Search the company on Companies House: dissolved records remain on the register for 20 years.

If there was a liquidation, your claim was part of that process and restoring the company rarely helps. The rest of this guide is mainly about companies that were struck off without an insolvency process.

Voluntary strike-off and the duty to tell creditors

Directors applying for voluntary strike-off must send a copy of the application to existing and likely creditors within 7 days of applying. GOV.UK states that failing to do so with the intention of concealing the application can lead to up to 7 years in prison and an unlimited fine. If you were a known creditor and heard nothing, keep a record: it is relevant to a restoration application and to any complaint about the directors.

Step 2: restoration by court order

Restoration by court order is the route open to creditors. Section 1029 of the Companies Act 2006 lists who may apply, including a creditor of the company at the time it was struck off or dissolved, and any other person who appears to the court to have an interest.

The time limits are in section 1030:

1. General rule: within 6 years from the date of dissolution.
2. Personal injury claims: at any time, for bringing proceedings against the company for damages for personal injury.
3. After a refused administrative restoration: within 28 days of notice of the registrar's decision, even if 6 years have passed.

The court can order you to pay the registrar's costs and costs connected with any bona vacantia assets. Once the company is restored, it also owes any penalties and fines it would have incurred, so restoration is not cheap for anyone involved.

What restoration achieves

A restored company is treated as if it had continued to exist, so your debt is enforceable against it again. You can then sue it, serve a statutory demand for a debt over £750, or petition to wind it up. A winding-up order brings in a liquidator, who can investigate the directors and bring claims such as wrongful trading that are only available in an insolvency.

Restoration makes sense when the company has assets, when you need a judgment against it (for example to claim under an insurance policy or a guarantee), or when a liquidator could recover money from the directors. If the company had nothing and owes many people, you may spend more than you recover. Take legal advice before applying.

Step 3: administrative restoration

Administrative restoration is a cheaper route through Companies House, but a creditor cannot use it. It is available only to someone who was a director or member when the company was struck off, within 6 years of dissolution, and not where the directors themselves applied for voluntary strike-off.

The applicant must first deliver any outstanding documents, pay any outstanding penalties and get a waiver from the bona vacantia authority if the company's assets passed to the Crown. As a creditor, you can only ask a former director to use it, which is useful when the director also wants the company back, for example to recover an asset.

What happened to the company's money?

Everything the company owned at dissolution, including money in its bank account, passed to the Crown as bona vacantia under section 1012, and the bank account is frozen. The company's debts do not pass to the Crown, and the Crown does not pay them.

If the company is restored, property the Crown still holds returns to it; for property the Crown has already disposed of, it pays the company the amount received or the value, less reasonable costs (s.1034). That is why restoration is the only way for a creditor to reach assets the company held when it was dissolved.

Can you claim from the directors?

Usually not: a limited company's debts are its own, and directors are not personally liable just because the company did not pay. There are specific exceptions to check.

• Personal guarantees. If a director signed a personal guarantee for the company's account, the claim is against them under the guarantee. Take advice on how dissolution affects it.
• Existing personal liability. The liability, if any, of every director and member continues after a strike-off and can be enforced as if the company had not been dissolved (Companies Act 2006, s.1000(7) and s.1003(6)). This preserves liabilities that already existed; it does not make directors liable for all company debts.
• Wrongful or fraudulent trading. Claims such as wrongful trading under section 214 of the Insolvency Act 1986 arise in an insolvent liquidation or administration, so the company usually has to be restored and wound up first.
• Disqualification and compensation. Since December 2021, the Insolvency Service can investigate and seek to disqualify directors of companies dissolved without an insolvency process. Where a disqualified director's conduct caused a direct loss to a creditor, it may apply for a compensation order.

You can report a director's conduct to the Insolvency Service through its complaint service. It decides which cases to investigate and does not act as a debt collector for individual creditors.

Act before dissolution next time

Objecting is far cheaper than restoring. Once a first Gazette notice appears, a creditor can object to the strike-off with evidence of the debt, which delays it for 6 months. Our guide on how to object to a company strike-off walks through the steps, and the first Gazette notice guide explains the timeline.

Strike-off proposals are common enough to monitor. On 1 October 2026, 7.6% of active and proposed companies carried one, and 58% of those were also overdue with their accounts (strike-off study). To be alerted when a customer gets a strike-off proposal, add it to a watchlist through our API with a free key.

General information, not legal advice. Restoration and claims against directors involve court procedure; take advice from a solicitor or insolvency practitioner before you spend money on them.

Sources

1. Restoring a company to the Companies House register, GOV.UK, accessed 17 October 2026.
2. Companies Act 2006, section 1029: application to court for restoration to the register, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 17 October 2026.
3. Companies Act 2006, section 1030: when application to the court may be made, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 17 October 2026.
4. Companies Act 2006, section 1012: property of dissolved company to be bona vacantia, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 17 October 2026.
5. Companies Act 2006, section 1034: property vested as bona vacantia, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 17 October 2026.
6. Companies Act 2006, section 1003: striking off on application by company, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 17 October 2026.
7. Striking off or dissolving a limited company, GOV.UK, accessed 17 October 2026.
8. Dissolved company investigations, GOV.UK, Insolvency Service, accessed 17 October 2026.
9. Bona vacantia dissolved companies (BVC1), GOV.UK, Government Legal Department, accessed 17 October 2026.
10. Insolvency Act 1986, section 123: definition of inability to pay debts, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 17 October 2026.

FAQ

Can I get money back from a dissolved company?

Not while it stays dissolved, because it no longer exists. A creditor can apply to court to restore the company, generally within six years of dissolution, and then pursue the debt as if the company had never been dissolved. Whether that is worth doing depends on whether the company had assets or whether a liquidator could recover money from the directors after restoration.

How long do I have to restore a dissolved company?

Generally six years from the date of dissolution for an application to court (Companies Act 2006, s.1030). There is no time limit if the purpose is to bring a personal injury claim. If a former director's administrative restoration application was refused, a court application can be made within 28 days of that decision even after six years.

Are directors personally liable for a dissolved company's debts?

Usually not. A limited company's debts belong to the company. Directors can be liable if they gave a personal guarantee, if they already had a personal liability that survives dissolution, or, after the company is restored and put into insolvent liquidation, for wrongful or fraudulent trading. The Insolvency Service can also seek disqualification and, where a creditor suffered direct loss, a compensation order.

What is bona vacantia?

Bona vacantia means ownerless goods. When a company is dissolved, everything it owned, including money in its bank account, passes to the Crown as bona vacantia under section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006. The company's debts do not pass to the Crown. If the company is later restored, its property, or the value of property the Crown has sold, comes back to it.

Sources: Companies House register and accounts data (Open Government Licence v3.0), legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK guidance where linked. This page is general information, not legal, tax or credit advice. Spotted an error? Email info@globalmindsetmarketing.co.uk.